5/10/2001 @ 6:30PM

Tampa

For years Tampa, as well as sister city St. Petersburg, suffered in comparison with more exotic and cosmopolitan Florida cities like Miami and Palm Beach. But in recent years, thanks in part to a booming local job market (14th on our job growth rank), a low cost of living (11th least-costly place to be single) and its location on the sunny Gulf Coast, more and more singles are discovering the many advantages to living in Tampa. Add to this mix a list of constantly improving professional sports teams like the Buccaneers and the Devil Rays, dozens of golf courses, and the recently gentrified Ybor City (a former industrial area on the city’s outskirts, once the cigar-making capital of the United States, where Tampans can now find a wide range of restaurants, bars and nightclubs), and it’s pretty easy to see why it’s one of the fastest-growing cities in the country. Of course, once you get married, you may not want to leave: Orlando and Disney World are only a short drive away. –Charles Dubow